IMDb RATING
5.7/10
1.8K
YOUR RATING
A live broadcast of the beloved animated Disney tale with live performances of the songs.A live broadcast of the beloved animated Disney tale with live performances of the songs.A live broadcast of the beloved animated Disney tale with live performances of the songs.
- Directors
- Writers
- Stars
- Nominated for 3 Primetime Emmys
- 5 nominations total
Sara Von Gillern
- Aerialist
- (as Sara VonGillern)
Stevie Doré
- Cast
- (as Steve Doré)
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
Embarrassing and hideous, a shrieking disaster. I've seen better high-school productions. And everyone was TOO OLD.
It's an episode of The Wonderful World of Disney. It's been 30 years since the release of the original movie. It's the animated movie cut with live performances of some of the scenes. Relative unknown Auli'i Cravalho is playing Ariel. At first, I thought she might be too old but she's actually a teen. One has to be aware of how she looks. On the other hand, Graham Phillips looks the part of the prince. Then there is Shaggy. It's been a decade since I've thought about Shaggy and here he is. He needs a more elaborate outfit to play Sebastian. He looks like Eddie Murphy's red outfit. He does not look like a crab. For inspiration, look towards Queen Latifah. She goes all out and her outfits are amazing. As for the performances, they are fair. It may be asking too much especially for the younger performers. I would suggest having only little girls in the audience. It's a little strange to see a middle aged dude whopping it up in a Little Mermaid show. Overall, it's fine.
I love live theatre. I love musical theatre. But, I'm still struggling to be excited by this new wave of Live TV productions of classic musical theatre, classic TV shows and now animated classics. This one set itself a gigantic task to perform live a story that was about mythical worlds is both on land and under the sea where the primary character is confined to sitting. What, in fact, they did was project the original animated movie for the story and interposed live performances of the songs. I can only image it was a spectacular feast for those in the live theatre: puppets, aerials (cum Cirque du Soleil), characters in costumes, dancers and stars belting out award winning songs. However, even on my big screen TV, it failed to capture the excitement that must have been in the studio. I also didn't find all the stars up to the task. Queen Latifah was absolutely perfect. Graham Phillips was a revelation, his voice and bearing befitting a prince (who knew Zack had such hidden talents?). Auli'l Cravalho's beautiful voice was compromised by aerial harnesses and by being forced to sing sitting because of her fish tail (she was breathless and pitchy). Shaggy and John Stamos were just plain bad casting giving cringe worthy performers. This production just didn't translate to its medium despite some genius elements. I give this production a 6 (fair) out of 10. {Live Rebrand of Animated Classic}
I am a fan of the live performances of stage and screen classics that have come to TV in the last few years. But this show offered something different---an animated film/live performance hybrid. It's a clever solution to the underwater action challenge that "The Little Mermaid" presents. But I think the concept is flawed.
We might enjoy intercutting the animated sequences to the live onstage performances if the performers were superstars (think Celine Dion or Barbra Streisand) of if the performers were the actual voices behind the animated characters (think Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel performing their songs from "Frozen"). But this presentation was like switching between two channels.
The production values were good. And the simulation of swimming using wires was the best part of the show. But they were not enough to save this live performance from mediocrity. I also found the applause and cheering of the live audience to be distracting.
We might enjoy intercutting the animated sequences to the live onstage performances if the performers were superstars (think Celine Dion or Barbra Streisand) of if the performers were the actual voices behind the animated characters (think Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel performing their songs from "Frozen"). But this presentation was like switching between two channels.
The production values were good. And the simulation of swimming using wires was the best part of the show. But they were not enough to save this live performance from mediocrity. I also found the applause and cheering of the live audience to be distracting.
The Little Mermaid has been successfully transplanted to the stage, and live musical productions have been the rage on TV for a few years, so it seems natural that the current(ly-clueless) regime at Disney would want to exploit it. The way that it was promoted, I was fully expecting to see a televised variation of THE STAGE MUSICAL. Instead, it was primarily the animated movie with cutaways to live performances of the songs. Oh, those poor, unfortunate actors...
On their own merits, the live actors were quite good and would've been worthy of a rave review if they'd done the full stage show or even an abridged hour-long karaoke show like VH1's "Rocky Horror 25." Unfortunately, by seguing directly from the movie to the theatre, it becomes impossible not to compare the live performers to their superior animated counterparts. And to boot, there were sound issues, the continuously-panning camerawork was nauseating, and Disney resorted to stunt-casting celebrities instead of hiring the best singers for the material.
Auli'i Cravalho came close to capturing the essence of the Jodi Benson's recordings, although she still fell a little short. It's a shame that we didn't get to see her act out the rest of the part, because she seemed very appealing as Ariel. Queen Latifah had the daunting task of singing Ursula's "Poor, Unfortunate Souls." Again, impressive performance in its own rite, but she didn't match the frenzied, maniacal power of Pat Carroll's rendition. Shaggy landed the role of Sebastian simply because he's a famous Jamaican, but Samuel E. Wright he's not. (Plus, there's no logical explanation for why they dressed him in a shiny red coat that too-closely resembled Michael Jackson's iconic Thriller jacket.) John Stamos stepped into Rene Auberjonois's shoes as Chef Louis, but the funniest thing about it was that he flubbed a joke at the very end. As Prince Eric, Graham Phillips walked away pretty much unscathed because there's no basis for comparison -- the prince didn't sing in the movie, so his song just felt out of place.
In the end, it felt like an infomercial, pathetically attempting to persuade viewers to go out and see the stage show... or trying to build up excitement for the forthcoming live-action remake. Either way, they missed the mark. I didn't think it was even possible, but by half-assing it, Disney somehow managed to hit an entirely new low with their never-ending recycling of popular properties.
On their own merits, the live actors were quite good and would've been worthy of a rave review if they'd done the full stage show or even an abridged hour-long karaoke show like VH1's "Rocky Horror 25." Unfortunately, by seguing directly from the movie to the theatre, it becomes impossible not to compare the live performers to their superior animated counterparts. And to boot, there were sound issues, the continuously-panning camerawork was nauseating, and Disney resorted to stunt-casting celebrities instead of hiring the best singers for the material.
Auli'i Cravalho came close to capturing the essence of the Jodi Benson's recordings, although she still fell a little short. It's a shame that we didn't get to see her act out the rest of the part, because she seemed very appealing as Ariel. Queen Latifah had the daunting task of singing Ursula's "Poor, Unfortunate Souls." Again, impressive performance in its own rite, but she didn't match the frenzied, maniacal power of Pat Carroll's rendition. Shaggy landed the role of Sebastian simply because he's a famous Jamaican, but Samuel E. Wright he's not. (Plus, there's no logical explanation for why they dressed him in a shiny red coat that too-closely resembled Michael Jackson's iconic Thriller jacket.) John Stamos stepped into Rene Auberjonois's shoes as Chef Louis, but the funniest thing about it was that he flubbed a joke at the very end. As Prince Eric, Graham Phillips walked away pretty much unscathed because there's no basis for comparison -- the prince didn't sing in the movie, so his song just felt out of place.
In the end, it felt like an infomercial, pathetically attempting to persuade viewers to go out and see the stage show... or trying to build up excitement for the forthcoming live-action remake. Either way, they missed the mark. I didn't think it was even possible, but by half-assing it, Disney somehow managed to hit an entirely new low with their never-ending recycling of popular properties.
Did you know
- TriviaQueen Latifah previously posed as Ursula for the Disney Parks Dream Portrait Series back in 2011.
- ConnectionsFeatured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: Garfieldelodeon (2019)
- SoundtracksFathoms Below
Music by Alan Menken
Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater
Performed by Graham Phillips
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- 小美人魚音樂舞台劇
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 23 minutes
- Color
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Top Gap
By what name was The Little Mermaid Live! (2019) officially released in Canada in English?
Answer